I'm old enough to remember how great apps like Pidgin were at consolidating all your IM services into a single app.
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Apple to Adopt RCS Messaging Standard for Better Interoperability With Android Devices
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I live in the UK. It’s either imessage or WhatsApp here with no issues communicating with anyone on any platform.
It seems strange that some of you Americans complain you can’t message cross-platform, yet the rest of world seem to do it without issue. You seem to have no issue installing a myriad of apps for other functionality, yet installing cross-platform messaging services is apparently beyond your abilities.
its just so… weird.
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The rest of the world didn't evolve through the cell phone growth where carrier texting has been essentially free. We never had the push to move to other messaging platforms the way Europe has. The result is that the carrier apps (sms on Android, iMessage on iPhone) became the dominant platforms instead of the third party apps becoming the dominant platforms. Right now, those 2 ecosystems don't play nicely together
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That explains how you got to this situation, but doesn’t really explain why you can’t use these cross-platform messaging services. I keep hearing Americans complaining about the cross-platform messaging experience, but you are acting as if you are completely helpless and that there aren’t dozens of cross-platform messaging services available to you.
As I’ve said many times, cross-platform messaging has been a solved problem for a very long time. Some people just can’t seem to find their way to the solution for some reason. Maybe Americans just want to be spoon fed things? I don’t really know what the reason is.
This is what makes me think that either Americans really are that stupid, or the issue isn’t actually the functionality of SMS/MMS, and really is just about the colour of the bubble. Either way, RCS isn’t gonna fix anything.
If I showed up in Europe, and demanded that everyone I wanted to communicate with needs to use XYZ app that no one else is currently using, what do you think would happen? Everyone would then download another communication app, create yet another account just to appease me? Doubtful. They would tell me to get with the program and conform to what they are already using. That's the situation here. You just have the benefit of having organically evolved into a better situation than we're in. If the situation were reversed, you'd be in exactly the same place we are. It's not a "lazy American" problem.
But everyone who uses a cross-platform messaging app, at some point, had to download and create an account for that messaging app. If the rest of the world can do it, so can American’s, if it really is actually important to them. The fact that they don’t suggests to me that cross-platform chat functionality is not that important to American people.
My predication is that for the American people who are interested in cross-platform messaging, they'll have already solved the problem by using an over the top messaging service. RCS won’t be useful to these people.
For the American’s who aren’t interested in cross-platform messaging, or specifically don’t want certain colour bubbles in their chat, RCS won’t be useful to these people.
The number of people who care about cross-platform messaging but haven’t yet figured out how to do it must be a vanishingly small number of people at this point.
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Take a breather mate… What are you talking about?!? Third party app stores?!? We are talking about RCS.
If by vanishingly small, you mean 325 million people in the US, then you're right on the mark... Use of third party messaging app (signal, WhatsApp, telegram, etc) is basically non-existent here. I use WhatsApp between my wife and I (android to iPhone). But literally no one else I know uses it. You can't just get the entire ecosystem to move rapidly enough to fix the problem. You just have the benefit of having organically evolved into a better situation. That doesn't mean you're entitled to stand on your soap box and dictate we're all stupid and lazy because we have a difficult situation to work through.
And... In our current situation, RCS will absolutely make the situation significantly better.
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The only things we need now are upgradeable RAM and external GPUs on Macs, and sideloading on iOS.
The EU will get on it. Phones with upgradeable RAM and GPUs incoming. I can already see Apple shaking in their boots. Lol
They never gave a rat's ###, they just wanted to put pressure on Apple. The real money is in Google serving ads on their own proprietary RCS, driving more people to Android for their services and ads/tracking, etc. You don't hear a lot about the ads today, but 6-8 years ago when Google acquired Jibe and started pushing RCS you would hear a lot about ads and how rich media would revitalize that paradigm.
In any event if anyone thinks Google (or Apple) does any of this for the good of society, I've got a bridge to sell you.
I have been on Google's Jibe RCS server for 2 years and have NEVER received an ad through RCS messages
Google RSC user here on a Pixel 7. Never once had an ad show up in Google Messages. In fact it activity blocks spam texts. Google and Apple do care about privacy and security when it comes to communication between people. Less so when it comes to search, browsing and app stores.
Yes. I do. They've said as much. Why else would they be pushing for iMessage to use it? Having iMessage using RCS does nothing for them unless they can mine data to monetize.
Who said anything about Apple using encryption? I sure didn't. See how dumb making assumptions sounds?
I personally don't think so. If anything, even though they're adding RCS (and sideloading) after all this time, Apple being stubborn as always would be my guess and would rather create a different path.
But we'll see what it ends up being.
It improves the user experience for users of Google's operating system, removing one of the major reasons some people cite for purchasing iPhones instead of Android phones.
Were that the case, it wouldn't say that Apple was adopting UP. It would say Apple was adopting Jibe. But it's not because they're not the same thing. Jibe is Google's build of RCS, it's not UP. According to jibe dot google dot com Jibe is a platform that supports UP. Therefore it is not UP itself. Jibe also is only supporting Android currently per the GSMA's site.
No they haven't said as much. I'm sorry but you're wrong. Google is using Signal protocol for encryption. They do not have the keys. Educating yourself isn't difficult. You're making a conscious choice to be ignorant when the information is readily available.
"People are migrating" until all are done migrating (which won't be done by the time Apple implements RCS), problem exists, and won't be solved "entirely" (using your word) until then. What's your point?It doesn't matter if not all android users have upgraded, it is what is going on now. People are migrating and all new phones being sold since 2019 from major carriers and phone manufacturing were starting to default to Google and Google has made so anyone can use RCS by downloading the message app.
Just so we are on the same page, i use iPhone and several times a week, Apple deprecates my iMessage to SMS even when im texting someone on iMessage, mid conversation it switches back and forth. All these but Google sucks and RCS doesn't work is nonsense. iMessage doesn't work properly.
That's right, there is a green bubble issue within Apple's own ecosystem. No Android involved.
" were starting to default to Google and Google has made so anyone can use RCS" - Google doesn't exist in China. Google isn't the end game for 100% RCS. China slowly rolled RCS implementation a few years ago among the big carriers.
Don't see the relevancy in your iMessage falling back to SMS.
I made my point clear. There exist a massive flaw with regards to Apple and mms group messaging. Apple didn't sabotage it. It's simply not technically capable and will not be technically capable for quite some time in the future.
If Jibe, which supports Universal Profile, is "not Universal Profile", then nothing is Universal Profile, including whatever Apple comes up with. The argument is pointless.
So you're suggesting that Google advertises E2EE but has secretly broken the scheme and is mining data?
- such a conspiracy would eventually leak and cause them extreme PR harm (so they wouldn't actually do this)
- the vast majority of non-iMessage messages sent from iPhones are already going to Google-controlled devices, so if Google were going to be that nefarious, they already have the data anyway.
completely off topic. re-read the thread of the discussion. like @SMH4KIDIOT, you're pivoting away from the original point and that is Apple didn't deliberately sabotage the ability to split iMessage users from MMS users to provide a better experience.
Well there's your problem. You didn't think about how someone would remove or leave from a group with MMS users because simply there is no technical capability to do so with MMS users. There's the flaw. That's why Apple didn't do what you suggested. Plain and simple. This is why UX designers design the story and developers don't touch their work.
Carry on.
I literally own 5 Android phones and 1 iPhone. Also own a Gigabyte laptop, 2 custom PCs, and 1 Intel NUC. there goes that hypothesis. lmao